orld Hopes are New Years babies, born in the very first instant of a very special year. Timestamped and certified, they are groomed from childhood to serve as symbols of peace in a newly established global regime. At the age of 23, every Hope will reach legal adulthood in their country of origin. At that time, they will be invested in the government, taking their places as leaders of Earth's new, integrated society.
When compared with other Hopes, 22-year-old Jackal Segura is already something of an anomaly. She was born not to a traditional nation-state but to Ko Corporation, a company with big government contracts, lots of political influence and its own human-made island paradise. As Kelley Eskridge's novel Solitaire opens, readers see a Jackal who is devoted to her corporation and friends, a young woman determined to prove herself and be the Hope of her company's dreams. She is also in shock, rocked to her core by an ill-timed revelation: Despite careful planning, her birth was moments after the Hope deadline, and Ko faked her timestamp. After a lifetime of celebrity and high expectations,
she has learned that she is not a Hope at all.
Struggling to regain her equilibrium, Jackal throws herself into her current Ko assignment, that of managing researchers working on advanced virtual-reality technology. The company has created an interface for full-immersion VR, but it has not yet worked out how to draw on a subject's experience to create complex realities. What's more, every subject is completely alone in VR—the technology allows no way for a user to interact with another person. Jackal takes the reins of the complex project, but her secret is never far from her mind. Will work be enough to keep her from spiraling out of control?
Strong characters, powerful emotions
Solitaire is Eskridge's first novel, and it defies reader expectations in ways that make it gut-wrenchingly painful and life-affirming all at once. The initial story setup gives readers a comfortable sense of the familiar, displaying a young heroine with special qualities, a clear internal conflict and strong indicators of outside villainy in Ko corporation. The opening is delivered in evocative prose that draws readers into Jackal's world, opening up her character for inspection and surrounding her with delightful friends, interesting co-workers and an intriguing and adversarial mother. Her lover, Snow, is vividly drawn, the stability of their relationship unquestionable.
Then, just as these highly appealing people seem to be settling in to play out a straightforward sort of story, the author defies every expectation she has created. Turning the world of Ko inside out, Eskridge sends Jackal someplace entirely unforeseen. The swerve is delightful, but it is shocking, too. Everything changes: The book's pace slows to remarkable stillness, and its tone takes a turn into unabashed sadness. Only Jackal's involvement with Ko's virtual-reality project continues, and that involvement is so altered that it becomes both a threat to her freedom and a slender potential lifeline back to the world she knew.
Despite its surprising turns of plot, Solitaire's story is deceptively simple, and it comes to a remarkably fast and tidy conclusion. That said, its portrait of Jackal Segura is what makes it unforgettable. Eskridge has a fine sensitivity to the character changes that people undergo in their first decade of adulthood. Jackal is no generic twenty-something, and her transition to maturity is portrayed with incredible subtlety. Solitaire may well raise the standard for coming-of-age novels for years to come.
